Chapter 2

As expected, outfit picking was a huge drag.

I'm not entirely sure why it had to be picked out and hung up a week prior to the actual event, but I knew better by now than to argue with my cranky mother. I did however let out a loud groan when she insisted that we just had to go out and buy a nice tie, the final piece of the puzzle.

"Because your fathers just won't do. I think the only one he owns is the one he wore when we got married. We'll get you one of your own. Every young man should own at least one tie..."

I clasped my hand behind my head as my mother and I walked through town, drowning out most of what she was saying. Why is this such a pain? It's a one-time event. Why is it such a big deal that I look nice?

I didn't dare ask my mom any of these questions, for fear of the repercussions that would surely follow. It'd be much less troublesome to just go with the flow and let her do her thing.

We entered a shop specializing in male formal wear, one after the other, to the ring of a bell. Being greeted by the shopkeeper, my mother weaved through the racks and soon disappeared in the clothes. I stood near the door awkwardly. I didn't know what I was looking for (or at all, really) and figured it would be best to wait until I was called for rather than trying to help.

When I finally got comfortable with the draft by the door and let out a yawn, someone entered behind me. Great...

I decided standing in the way of new guests was a little too rude and I traveled forward through the racks to tail my mother like a duckling.

When I was in a position to turn around casually and see who had entered behind me, I was surprised to say the least. The three very mysterious Sand village nin were standing in my place. The redhead who beat the absolute guts out of Rock Lee was looking as stoic as ever, not really taking in the shop around him with the 1000 yard stare he had plastered on. I almost didn't recognize the other guy without his war paint or his head dress, but he looked about the same way I felt; bored out of his mind.

In the center of the trio, taking some charge of this situation was the girl. Temari, I recalled. She looked around the shop with an almost anxious look on her face. It was the most expressive I'd ever seen her. Usually she's plastered on a cocky, borderline bitchy look.

The shop bell caught the attention of the attendant and the foreign look that these three gave off kept her attention. I watched the scene unfold from near my mother.

"Hello and good afternoon! May I help you three?" called the young lady working the floor today, as she made her way toward them. She was definitely older than me, perhaps older than Temari also, but not as old as Mom.

"Yes ma'am. We are finalists in this year's chunin exams and there is a formal party we must attend." Temari spoke carefully, like a diplomat, but she formally addressed the attendant, so I came to the conclusion that the attendant was older than her. Women's ages are hard...

"Congratulations! You've come to the right place, for your teammates that is, but I can point you in the direction of a formal dress shop also." The sales associate wore a big smile and ushered them further into the store.

"Thank you. I'm afraid none of us really have an eye for anything in the clothing department. Any help you may have to offer would be appreciated." Again she spoke formally, but she managed to give somewhat of a smile. Well, her own kind of smile. To me, it almost looked like a grimace.

The normally painted brother spoke up, "We've been instructed not to leave until we have something presentable to wear for next week. Our sensei made the mistake of leaving us to fend for ourselves in this matter. We are pretty fashionably challenged." He thinks he's got a sense of humor...

"You're staring, son. Do you know that girl?" I turned around to see the back of my mom's head. How did she even...?

"Not really, no. I'm slated to face her in the first round of the final competition." My mother proceeded to hold up two nearly identical black ties to my chest and studied them.

"She's pretty. What do you think she will wear to the dinner party?" Mom was still speaking absentmindedly, while deciding on a tie that would suit me the best.

"This is why you should've had a girl. I'm more worried about the techniques she'll be throwing out in the arena." I kept my voice low, so the trio hopefully wouldn't notice me. If they already had noticed they weren't alone in the store, I hoped they wouldn't recognize me as one of their future opponents.

"Are you going to ask anyone to go with you, Shikamaru?" Mom inquired. We made our way to the shopkeepers register to purchase the neck ornament she'd deemed worthy.

"No, Mom." She must have asked me this a million times, as if waiting for the answer to change.

"Not even..." She began to ask another familiar question, but I stopped her short.

"No, Mom, not even Ino, no matter how much of a nice time you think she'd have if she got to dance with Sasuke." I'd been through this scenario a few times in my head, when my mother first brought it to Ino's attention. She'd either a) spend the whole night stalking him and call it a bust when she never managed to attract his attention, after which, of course, I would be stuck listening to her moaning about it or b) approach him at the beginning and spend the rest of the evening sulking when he turned her down, which, of course, I would have to listen to all evening. The very very slim chance that she had a nice time definitely did not outweigh those other scenarios.

After handing over some cash to the man at the register, my mother turned to look at me with "the look" on her face. It was a mix between a glare and a sneer that both my father and I knew a little too well.

At the mention of Sasuke's name someone spoke up to our left.

"Sasuke Uchiha," said a very eerie male voice. Uhg, it gave me the creeps. My mother turned slowly and lightly took hold of my elbow for a moment, a reaction she only gave to my father or me when there was a spider in the house, or we were walking home late at night; my mother's reaction to fear. The more afraid she was, the tighter her grip became. Right now, it was a mere brush, but if she knew what I knew, it would be a death grip.

I turned to acknowledge the speaker, the red headed Sand nin. "Yeah, he's a finalist. He should be at the party at the end of the week." I tried to keep my voice calm, even though I was pretty startled to see him staring directly at me.

The older brother stepped forward out of the single dressing room the shop had, casting a nervous glance at his younger sibling. While Temari inspected the way his new threads fit, he attempted to clear the air. "Word on the street is, he's been having some health issues. He's pretty hard to come by these days."

"Really?" I decided to play dumb and do right by my leaf comrade. "I heard he's been off somewhere training his butt off and that's why he hasn't been around lately."

We both seemed to have our eyes on the threatening looking red head. "Well, he must have beat his flu or whatever. You might have your work cut out for you after all, Gaara."

Gaara made no confirmation or denial of his brother's statement. Instead, he addressed his sister, without taking his eyes away from me. "Temari, isn't this your opponent?"

Temari was having a separate conversation with the sales lady about how her brother needed a smaller size jacket, it was too long in the sleeves and a bit bulky in the shoulders. She took a moment to look up at me and gave another "smile".

"Yes, hi. See you at the party." She made her way to Gaara's side with a set of clothes for him. It was clear his attitude made her nervous.

"Your turn, Gaara, please... Please." Temari repeated herself when Gaara didn't budge. He finally broke his gaze on me, and I felt like I had been released from my own jutsu.

"Yeah, see you guys around." This time I grabbed my mother by her elbow and steered her out of the shop and away from the creepy guy. Who gets a tattoo on his forehead anyway?

On our walk home, Mom went on and on about how scary Gaara was and how uncomfortable his stare made her feel. Then when she finally felt safe again, she kept talking about what a lovely young lady Temari seemed to be.

"Mom, if you saw her fight Tenten in the preliminary rounds, you wouldn't think anything like that. Just because she was on her best behavior today doesn't make her any less troublesome."

That was the wrong thing to say. My mother then ranted even more about how you should never judge a book by its cover, and that I, of all people, should be able to relate to her actions. She was a good ninja, but she could be a good person too.

"The same way you are a good ninja, but, at the same time, are the laziest person in the whole village."

Gee, thanks Mom...